Instances›AWS EC2›r8gd›r8gd.large
Compute
vCPUs2
Memory16 GiB
Mem / vCPU8.00 GiB
ProcessorGraviton4 Processor
Clock speed2.7 GHz
Architecturearm64
Storage
Type1 × 118 GB NVMe SSD
Bandwidth10,000 Mbps
Throughput1250 MB/s
IOPS40,000
Networking
PerformanceUp to 12.5 Gigabit
Max ENIs3
IPv6Yes
GPUNone
Family sizes
r8gd.medium1 vCPU · 8 GiB
r8gd.large2 vCPU · 16 GiB
r8gd.xlarge4 vCPU · 32 GiB
r8gd.2xlarge8 vCPU · 64 GiB
r8gd.4xlarge16 vCPU · 128 GiB
r8gd.8xlarge32 vCPU · 256 GiB
r8gd.12xlarge48 vCPU · 384 GiB
r8gd.16xlarge64 vCPU · 512 GiB
r8gd.24xlarge96 vCPU · 768 GiB
r8gd.metal-24xl96 vCPU · 768 GiB
r8gd.48xlarge192 vCPU · 1536 GiB
r8gd.metal-48xl192 vCPU · 1536 GiB
r8gd.large

r8gd.large is AWS's memory-optimized EC2 size at 2 vCPU and 16 GiB. In the name, "r" stands for RAM, "8" is the generation, "gd" marks AWS Graviton (ARM) processors and local NVMe storage and "large" is the size within the r8gd family. It runs on AWS Graviton4 Processor at 2.7 GHz, and AWS introduced it in April 2025. AWS has since shipped r9gd; r9gd.large is the direct replacement at this size. On Rackspace Spot the same shape is mh.vs2.medium — 2 vCPU, 16 GiB, matched on both dimensions, about 93% below the US East (N. Virginia) on-demand rate.

Match qualityx86 substitution

r8gd.large is Graviton (arm64). Rackspace Spot does not have arm64 servers, so mh.vs2.medium is an x86_64 substitute with similar specs.

You will need x86 builds of your container images. Most software rebuilds without changes, but anything with compiled native code needs a real rebuild rather than a retag. Speed per core also differs between the two chips, so it is worth testing before deciding how many nodes to run.

No local diskr8gd.large comes with 1 × 118 GB NVMe SSD attached to the machine. Spot nodes use network storage only, so that disk doesn't come with it. If you were using it as fast scratch space, you'd move to a persistent volume or object storage, which are slower to read.
Pricing by region
1 hr
RegionAWS on-demandAWS Spot1-yr Reserved3-yr ReservedRackspace SpotYou save
US East, N. Virginia$0.147$0.050$0.011
$0.136 savings
US Central, Chicagono AWS region$0.021
US Central, Dallasno AWS region$0.041
Hong Kong$0.179$0.002
$0.177 savings
Sydney, Australia$0.169$0.052$0.011
$0.158 savings
London, UK$0.172$0.023$0.011
$0.161 savings
US West, San Jose$0.165$0.048$0.031
$0.134 savings
US Central, Dallas 2no AWS region$0.031
When to use it
Good for
  • ●Real-time analytics over hot datasets
  • ●Database instances that keep the working set in RAM
  • ●Graph and search workloads with large indexes
  • ●Workloads that fit inside 16 GiB of RAM
  • ●Jobs that want 1 × 118 GB of local NVMe scratch space
  • ●Network-heavy services — AWS rates this size at Up to 12.5 Gigabit
Avoid if
  • ●The working set needs more than 16 GiB of RAM
  • ●You cannot rebuild x86-only binaries or vendor images for aarch64
  • ●GPU or FPGA acceleration is needed
  • ●CPU-bound work. You are paying for memory this workload will not use.
  • ●More than 8.00 GiB of RAM per vCPU is needed — that ratio is fixed for the whole family
$107/mo on AWS on-demand against $8/mo on Rackspace Spot for the equivalent — market-priced, not list-priced.
  • Spot sells spare capacity at market prices. It is the cheapest compute on the internet.
  • Prices are set by supply and demand. You pay what the market decides.
  • Compute is delivered as fully managed Kubernetes. All infrastructure is taken care of.
  • Egress costs $0.01/GB after the free allowance. AWS charges $0.09/GB.
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